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The 5 Rules of QR Codes

The ongoing fascination with QR codes does not necessarily mean that everyone implements them correctly. To make sure that your QR Code campaign works, you may want to read these following five rules:
“Rule No. 1: Your QR Code Must Lead to a Mobile Landing Page
This is the most important rule regarding the use of QR codes, yet it is often ignored by companies who are attempting QR campaigns. If you do not have a mobilized landing destination, the instant nature of the scan is voided by slow load times, poor formatting and cumbersome browsing.
Breaking the Rule: Neustar, who ironically produced an ad campaign regarding (and using) QR codes, violated the most important rule of this mobile technology. When scanned, the QR code (above left) leads to a non-mobilized website that is nearly impossible to navigate. While the content on the site may be valuable, its presentation on a mobile device offers an extremely poor mobile experience. Even those who had a strong interest in the product would likely take one glance at the webpage on their phone and press the “back” button on their browser.
Keeping the Rule: Ketchum did an excellent job with their print advertisement that contains a QR code (the full ad can be seen on the mobile site). The QR code (above right) leads to a fully branded, functional mobile website, complete with relevant articles and even social links. This is an excellent example of how to serve users with a great mobile experience that will be sure to leave them with positive brand recognition.
Rule No. 2: Have a Clear Call to Action
QR codes are beginning to penetrate many traditional forms of media. As they become more visible to the general […]

QR Codes Are Indeed Everywhere

It seems like we see QR codes everywhere: on bus ads, fast food wrappers and product packaging. One of my personal favourite uses was on a box of Christmas lights that linked to a video showing what the lights actually looked like in action.

Qr Codes. Less than a year ago, we barely saw them. Now they are absolutely everywhere. You can see them on billboards, bus ads, product packaging and fast foods. There is a QR code on a box of Christmas lights that is linked to a video which shows you what the lights actually look like on a house.

QR codes are so easy to implement they can literally be put everywhere. Here are 5 uses for QR codes that are guaranteed to surprise you:

“1. Gravestones

Want to let people learn more about your loved one when they visit his or her gravesite? By adding a QR code to the headstone, let visitors see photos, videos, and biographies of the person at that eternal resting place. The quirky practice started out in Japan, where you can find QR codes just about everywhere, but a Regina company has taken up the practice and is introducing QR codes onto their memorials, too.

2. Virtual grocery store

If you find yourself too busy to visit the grocery store, or feel like you’re wasting time, Tesco Home Plus in Korea has a solution. In order to be more competitive in the grocery market without getting more retail space, Tesco introduced the virtual grocery store. Subway riders can walk up to virtual shelves on boards in stations and scan the QR code below the picture of the product they wish to purchase. Once the users have finished compiling their shopping […]

Have You Gotten Caught In QR Quicksand?

As with any new technology, QR codes has had its share of problems. What this means is that consumers who have had a bad experience may be reluctant to scan your QR code.

Here are some tips to help alleviate the problems to date with QR codes:

“A direct marketing approach works best with QR codes. When using this approach, act is if you’re marketing to a single person. You should have an ideal target customer that meets a certain profile. The best strategy is to give away quality information. Make sure the webpage is different from the the flyer (or other printed material). Consumers are bombarded everyday with poorly designed QR code advertising campaigns.

You should give a reason for scanning the QR code inside your marketing materials. For example, display a message above or below the QR code image that offers a reason to scan the code. Because of experiencing poor quality campaigns, customers are feeling more reluctant to scan QR codes. Perhaps the previous code he/she scanned linked to a webpage that was exactly the same as the flyer they were looking at. Don’t do this
Your should keep your logo off the linked webpage, move it to the bottom, or keep it really small. With direct marketing, it’s not about you or brand building. Keep the focus on the customer. Offer information that solves a problem they have. Or, offer the promotion that is of a great value.
It’s vital to make sure the webpage in which the code links to is mobile friendly. That is, there is no scrolling left to right and the user doesn’t have to zoom in and out to see the webpage. If your ‘call to action’ is for […]

QR Code Campaign Lessons From a College Campus

We are all learning about how to mobile market and QR codes are no exception. Here is a really great article which outlines a QR code experiment on a college campus and the lessons learned.

“ A little while ago I got the opportunity to craft a QR code experiment on the OU campus. The premise was simple: Improve the campus discovery experience for prospective students.

In other words the idea was to digitize, improve and share data about the sooner spirit to future sooner. Campus wide QR implementation meant to serve two main goals:

To improve campus promotion within the recruiting class by providing cool facts about the campus and the sooner lifestyle.
To improve campus navigation for the incoming class, while integrating social interaction into our students’ lifestyle.

We chose to use camp crimson as our test field. For your information, camp crimson is a freshman immersion camp where the incoming class learns about campus and campus life.

This article is more like a diary of the things we learned during the process. After the whole experience, here are the five rules (in my opinion) that should guide you in the process of creating a QR campaign.

Educate/Secure your content: One of the biggest misconceptions around QR codes is that people are automatically going to scan them if given the opportunity. The first thing you need to understand is content safety. People want to know they can trust your content. Reassure them that nothing malicious is going to happen to their device. To fix this, we created a brand for our scans. SoonerScan. In result, if students see a QR code within our logo, they know it’s content approved.
Understand your audience: QR scanners are not browsers. The reason people […]

Why Everyone Is Talking About QR Codes

QR Code Campaigns appear to be drawing quite a bit of attention in the press lately. I wonder sometimes if this is because everyone understands that ‘mobile’ is important but they don’t really know what to do about it. People can’t talk about ‘how to make a mobile app’ or even ‘how to make a mobile website’. Talking about QR codes is probably the easiest way to talk about mobile marketing.
I did recently run across this article posted by Katy Ryan Schamberger which is probably the best, most practical all-around advice I have seen on how to create a successful QR Code.
“1) Plan and define. When you began using Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site, you created a plan first, right? After all, you don’t want to simply launch your brand into the social space without defining your goals and objectives. The same is true for QR codes. As you begin your campaign, carefully think through the purpose of the code by considering these questions:

What is the code’s purpose?
What is the code connected to? Are you featuring a single product or item? Do you want to showcase an entire product line or brand?
Do you want to get consumer information such as an email address through the code?

2) Create a call to action. Consider your QR code as yet another gateway to your web presence. Perhaps you want to create an incentive, such as a certain discount or reduced price when consumers scan the code. If you opt to incentivize the experience, make sure you clearly explain the incentive in […]

College Students Flunk QR Codes

I recently noticed that my Ivy League attending daughter looked at me with confusion when I spoke about QR codes. It is ironic that the mobile marketing in almost everywhere is led by the 18-24 year olds. They tend to have a higher propensity to buy on their smartphones and they have led the way in text messaging as well as overall mobile usage. But QR codes leave them cold.
Helen Leggatt tells the whole story:
“ When Archrival surveyed over 500 students from college campuses across the US they found little enthusiasm for QR Codes.
The little black and white pixilated squares were largely ignored, even though 81% of students had a smartphone and 80% had previously seen a QR Code.
So why the lack of interest? According to Archrival’s results it would appear that while the studious survey respondents were clever enough to get in to college, just 21% managed to scan a QR Code example presented to them.
Difficulties arose because some believed all that was needed was a camera and were not aware that a third-party app was required. Many got bored with the process as it took too long and others didn’t want to download the scanning app.
“These are serious barriers marketers must account for and overcome if they plan on incorporating QR codes into any strategy that targets young consumers,” says Archrival Brand Manager Don Aguirre. “Remember, when it comes to trends, especially those in the tech fields, adoption doesn’t trickle down to college students but rather the other way around. The college campus is what drives our popular culture — always has, always will. Without adoption or buy-in from this segment, a product will continually struggle for relevancy.”
Moral of the […]

How to Add Pizzazz to Your QR Code Campaign

So people are getting used to seeing those funny little ‘black and white’ boxes known as QR codes. They are everywhere. You can find QR codes on billboards, in magazines, books, coffee mugs, clothes and even on food.
But it is unclear if marketers are really using QR codes to their maximum. And the danger is that consumers might get bored with QR codes if they keep getting led to the same old boring old places.
Here are some tips from Adam Green of how you can spice up your QR code campaign:
“Consider new types of engagement
When experimenting with any new marketing tool, it’s easy to just use that tool the same way everyone else uses it.
And why not? A simple bandwagon approach shows that you’re keeping pace with the trends and responding to your competition through similar use of the same strategies.
It sounds fine, but if typical QR code use in your industry involves little more than sending users to the home page of your site or to the company blog, you may want to rethink the bandwagon approach and come up with something more engaging. Find out how other industries are using the codes. Do scans give users access to exclusive content? Are they using video? Signing users up for mailing lists?
Giving people something they can’t get anywhere else encourages them to scan your codes. It also clarifies the value of your offer and distinguishes you from the masses.
Tell your audience what it’s getting.
What better way to demonstrate value than stating it up front?
Instead of just printing a tiny QR code on one of your ads, why not add a short description of what users are going to see upon performing a scan? […]

Fun and Folly With QR Codes

I really had some giggles reading this article by Maura Neill outlining QR Code Mistakes. They are really well worth sharing in their entirety. And remember that despite the laughs, there are some really excellent lessons about QR code implementation contained in here:

“A few months ago I was in Boston, strolling down the famed Newbury Street after dinner with friends, and lo and behold! a QR code…in a second story window. Try as we might, we could not scan it.

We even returned in daylight the next day and no luck. Lesson: test your QR code placement.

Last week I was driving down the interstate near Atlanta, and as I flew past going 65 MPH (okay, maybe more like 80), I glimpsed a QR code…on a billboard. It was huge and probably scanable, had I been standing stationary on the side of the road. However, I don’t plan to ever be stationary on the side of the interstate – and if I am, I will be looking for a tow truck, not a divorce attorney so said billboard QR code would be useless to me. Perhaps if you’re in Times Square and the majority of the traffic is on foot, but not in a rural area with the majority of your traffic flying by at nearly 100 MPH. (Similarly, I am continually frustrated by QR codes on vehicles, most of which I will never see parked, and scanning while driving is, in my opinion, even more dangerous than texting…] Lesson: consider your audience and where/how they will be encountering your QR code.

Probably the funniest QR code usage I’ve seen (and by “funny” I mean “really?!”) is a local REALTOR® who has a QR code on […]